1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to information retrieval technologies in the context of Internet based communication media and in particular to a system and method for real-time information gathering and management.
2. Description of Related Art
The seminal importance of the Internet as a generalized communication medium has been clear from the very outset. As the Internet has surged in popularity it has begun manifesting itself in nontraditional ways, the scope of which had never been fully anticipated. In particular, with the exponential rise in the number of Internet users, real-time Web based interaction, such as that seen in Internet xe2x80x9cchatxe2x80x9d, has emerged as an amazingly popular and pervasive mode of communication.
On the Internet, the term xe2x80x9cchattingxe2x80x9d is used to refer to the act of xe2x80x9ctalkingxe2x80x9d to other people who are using the Internet at the same time. Typically, xe2x80x9cchattingxe2x80x9d involves the broadcast, multicast, or unicast of messages, typed in real-time, amongst a group of users occupying the same space (i.e., connected to the same server or related group of servers) on the Internet. The users themselves may be situated in different geographical locales and may be connected using any number of different client programs, browsers, or internet service providers (xe2x80x9cISPxe2x80x9d). The key point is that a single Internet site (the xe2x80x9cchat sitexe2x80x9d) serves as a common repository for all messages. Chats may be ongoing, or scheduled, and users may enter and leave the chat site at will.
Typically, most chats are focused on a particular topic or theme. A given chat-site may be a host to multiple chats, each corresponding to a different theme yet taking place at the same time in different xe2x80x9cchat roomsxe2x80x9d which are essentially specialized sub-domains within the broader chat-site. Hence, participants within the same chat-room generally share some common interest or concern which brings them together.
Chats are hosted by online services (such as America Online), by bulletin board services and by Web sites. Many Web sites exist exclusively for the purpose of conducting chats. Most chat sites use a popular protocol called xe2x80x9cInternet Relay Chatxe2x80x9d (IRC), for client-server handshaking and subsequent client-server and client-client interaction. IRC was first made public in RFC 1459, released in May 1993. Besides the exchange of text messages, a chat may also include the use of sound and graphics, provided that the bandwidth capability and appropriate programming are accessible.
Currently, most chat activity appears to be informal and recreational. However, specialized channels where professionals exchange valuable opinions and engage in constructive dialogues are becoming increasingly prevalent.
Despite the emerging popularity of real-time communication using the Internet, the implications of this paradigm for commercial advertising purposes have largely been overlooked. Most advertising on the Web is pre-defined and pre-meditated by the advertiser. In some instances, however, efforts have been made to dynamically alter the advertising so as to increase its relevance to the user. The most notable example of this is in the case of search engines. Once the user enters a search query, many search engines will dynamically alter the content of the advertising banners to reflect a product that is somehow related to the user""s query. For example, a user who searches for the string xe2x80x9ccomputer partsxe2x80x9d, may be shown an advertising of a xe2x80x9cCOMPAQxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cDELLxe2x80x9d, since these companies manufacture computer hardware. Although a few rudimentary measures have been taken to better customize online advertising so as to improve its relevance to the user, no general technique has been developed to do this dynamically in the context of real-time user interaction on the Internet.
Although automated Web crawling tools are widely used to index and summarize content on a regular basis, the scope of these tools are largely limited to xe2x80x9cstaticxe2x80x9d data. No general technique has been developed to deal with more xe2x80x9cdynamicxe2x80x9d data that is constantly changing in real-time, as is the case with Internet chat sessions. The rapid increase in popularity of online chat indicates that chat is poised to become a mainstream form of communication amongst members of online communities. As such, it is desirable to develop a technique that will make it possible to conveniently monitor and archive the content of chat sessions, and make this data accessible for subsequent analysis. Furthermore, it would also be desirable to be able to provide online advertising responsive to the content of chat sessions.
Bearing in mind the problems and deficiencies of the prior art, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method and system to gather dynamic information from a real-time communication on a computer network such as the Internet.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and system to analyze dynamic information gathered from a real-time communication on a computer network such as the Internet.
A further object of the invention is to provide a method and a system to target a message responsive to dynamic information gathered from a real-time communication on a computer network such as the Internet.
Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification.
The above and other objects and advantages, which will be apparent to one of skill in the art, are achieved in the present invention which is directed to, in a first aspect, a method for automatically gathering, summarizing and indexing real-time information derived from a real-time communication on a computer network between at least a first and second client or user. In the preferred embodiment, the method comprises connecting to a server and a site where the real-time communication is taking place by opening a socket based connection using a transmission control/network (e.g., internet) protocol (xe2x80x9cTCP/IPxe2x80x9d).
In the most preferred embodiment, opening a socket base connection using a TCP/IP comprises opening an input and output socket to the server, sending the server a first command to request a connection, receiving a unique session identification message from the server, sending a confirming unique session identification message to the server, sending a registration message to the server which comprises a user name, host name, server name, real first name and real last name, and sending a second command to the server specifying a chat room to join. A connection is made with the site of the chat room on the server and the real-time communication is monitored. In the preferred embodiment, at least one block of communication data is retrieved from the real-time communication and processed. The processing may include extracting at least one parameter from the block of communication data, the parameter consisting of a body text, title, header, e-mail address or uniform resource locator. The data is summarized by marking a parameter with a tag. In the preferred embodiment, an extensible markup language summary of the data is generated where extensible markup language tags are used to delineate the parameters.
In the preferred embodiment the method further comprises storing the summarized data in a data base. It is preferred that the data base be adapted to be queried for at least one key word associated with the block of communication data. In the preferred embodiment, the data base is queried for the occurrence of a key word and a data base entry corresponding to the key word is identified and displayed.
In one aspect of the preferred embodiment, after summarizing the block of communication data, at least one key word is identified to be detected during the real-time communication. The summarized data is analyzed for the occurrence of the key word and a message selected from a message data base which is associated with the key word is then interjected to the site of the real-time communication where it is detectable by clients. The message may consist of image banners, video streams or audio presentations and may also be personalized for a specific client. In the preferred embodiment a message may be mapped to more than one key word and a key word may be mapped to more than one message.
In another aspect, the present invention is directed to an article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing a computer to automatically gather, summarize and index real-time communication on a computer network between at least a first and second user. The computer readable program code means in the article of manufacture comprises computer readable program code means for causing a computer to connect with at least one server and a site where a real-time communication is taking place, to monitor the real-time communication, to retrieve a block of communication data from the communication, to process and extract at least one parameter from the communication data, and to summarize the data and tag a parameter. In the preferred embodiment, the article of manufacture further comprises computer readable program code means for causing a computer to store the summarized block of communication data in the data base, to query the data base for the occurrence of a key word, to identify a data base entry corresponding to the summarized block of data and key word, and to display the data base entry on a screen visible to a client.
In the preferred embodiment, the article of manufacture further comprises computer readable program code means for causing a computer to identify a key word to be detected during the real-time communication and to analyze the summarized data for the occurrence of the key word. It is preferred that the article further include computer readable program code means for causing a computer to select a message associated with a key word from a message data base, and interject a message into the real-time communication which can be detected by a client.
In another aspect, the present invention is directed to a computer program product comprising a computer musical medium having computer readable program code means embodied in the medium for causing a computer to automatically gather, summarize and index real-time information derived from a real-time communication on a computer network between a first and second client. In the preferred embodiment, the computer program product has computer readable program code means for causing a computer to connect with a server and a site where a real-time communication is taking place, to monitor the real-time communication and retrieve a block of communication data, to process the data and extract at least one parameter from the data, and to summarize the data and identify the parameter. It is also preferred that the computer program product comprise computer readable program code means for causing a computer to store the summarized block of communication in a data base, to query the data base for the occurrence of a key word, to identify a data base entry corresponding to the key word, and to display the data base entry on a screen visible to a client. In the preferred embodiment, the computer program product further comprises computer readable program code means for causing a computer to identify a key word to detect during the real-time communication, to analyze the summarized data for the occurrence of the key word, to select at least one message from a data base associated with the key word and to interject the message back to the site of the real-time communication such that the message is detectable by a client.
In a further aspect the present invention is directed to a method for targeting a message to at least one client in the context of a real-time communication on a computer network. In the preferred embodiment the method comprises connecting to a site of a real-time communication on the network, monitoring the communication for the occurrence of a key word, generating a message responsive to the key word, and interjecting the message onto the site of the real-time communication the message being detectable by at least one participant in the communication.
Although the present invention may be employed on a local intra-net, it is preferably directed toward use on the Internet.